Anti-Marijuana Propaganda

Essay by spoonman419 July 2004

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*note: Notice this is in creative writing. I do not actually believe the following, rather it is a piece inspired by years of exposure to anti-marijuana propaganda. If you want to see my true thoughts on this issue, read "Drug Legalization in America - A Radical Stance."

Marijuana is a drug, not a recreational pastime. Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, among them 60 cannabinoids unique to the cannabis plant. Most prominent among these is the chemical called Delta 9 tetrahydracannibinol or THC for short. One 10,000th of a gram of THC is enough to make you high. Hashish is an extract from the THC-rich resin of the hemp or marijuana plant. Hashish oil has the highest concentration of THC. One to two drops equal one marijuana cigarette. Cigarette smoking is a losing battle with our young people. Marijuana has twice as much tar as tobacco, plus all the other irritants that cause chronic sinus inflammation.

One marijuana joint is equal to one whole pack of tobacco cigarettes.

Street pot is often cut with such things as oregano, hay and even animal manure, but of course only people in a drug-induced haze would ingest manure in any form. Chemicals in cannabis are fat-soluble and, unlike water-soluble alcohol which leaves the blood stream in 24 hours, leak back into the blood slowly. Even if you smoked one joint every three weeks, cannabinoids collect in your body. A chronic pot smoker is never drug free. THC impairs the ability of the brain cells to transmit messages. Brain circuits become disorganized from smoking two joints a week for six months. Memory and clear thinking are impaired. There is a slowing of comprehension, reaction and evaluation -- all skills which are critical when driving a vehicle or operating heavy machinery.

Regular pot smokers in their teens and early 20s were found to have brain atrophy equal to 70- to 90-year-olds. Dark fatty granules invade the nucleus of brain cells, a condition usually found in old people and a sign of senility. Adolescent brains are vulnerable to THC. No other drug creates these old age symptoms in the young brain. THC causes a great deal of damage to the brain cells and when brain cells die they are gone forever. THC affects the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Teen girls often have menstrual irregularities. As adults, they can end up with pot damaged ova. Pregnant pot smokers are five times more likely to have babies with fetal alcohol-like symptoms, behavioral and physical abnormalities.

For males, THC inhibits sperm from using fructose, from which they get their energy. As a result the spermatazoa suffer from a lack of strength and become less mobile and may be deformed and underdeveloped. THC destroys the protein in the head of the sperm, making the sperm too weak to penetrate the egg. In adolescent males pot can retard development of masculine body characteristics. No other drug has such devastating effects on male hormonesas THC.

THC can break and deform chromosomes, which alters the genetic information passed on to offspring. Smoking pot three times a week for one year can produce the kind of chromosome damage equal to 2,000 chest X-rays. No other illegal drug is known to ravage cell division to the extent marijuana does. Cannabis damages some white blood cells by deforming their nuclei. As a result, the body is unable to fight off infection and such things as genitalherpes. Macrophages are cells which ingest bacteria and dirt. THC disintegrates many of these.